CAMP LIFE & GOING ON SAFARI…

The camp is buzzing this evening the boys are off for sunday night in Nantumbo, the local town where they can have a few drinks, no doubt a few girls and crash for the night  - this is all on the proviso  that they are back and ready for work in the morning. In the background is the music from the kitchen, I think they have the same three songs playing over and over day after day – but its OK the place is very relaxed.

This morning I had booked 2 game scouts (with guns) and a vehicle so we could do our own safari;  I have not yet seen elephant or hippo or lion or much wildlife at all.  So we had organised a walk to a hippo pool where wildlife abound.  It was supposed to be about a 4km walk from a “main” track in and out.

An early start, and for once people were on time.   But we weren’t aware that our human GPS and game scout Nyegela had changed the route to maximise our chances of seeing game; from the 4km walk, into a 15km round trip comprising of 6km walk to a (different) hippo pool, 4 km to the river, 1km down river and then 6km back to the vehicle . We only found this out when we arrived at the new starting spot and the whities weren’t organised for this were they, no GPS, no radio and only limited water – hey are we stupid or what? 5 km off the beaten track facing a 15km walk in the African bush and 3 basic survival elements missing!! But we had the trusty Nyegela, or was he?

It’s interesting how the mood changed through the walk from bravado and apprehension (discussion like “hey Cameron if you’re being mauled by a lion do you want us to shoot the lion or yourself?” and "Any messages for your parents” and Cameron “ do you know the lions will go for the meaty ones first not the old skinny sinewy one!”); then and anticipation and excitement sets in forgetting the danger and then back to apprehension again, will the human GPS find his way back to the car? Has he got us completely lost and how do we get out of here?

 Well with this build up I’ll put you out your misery.  It was an awesome walk it was all of 15Km – 4.5 hours of tramping through undulating to hilly terrain. Sometimes in thick grassland where you can’t see above or through it, sometimes in quite heavily wooded areas.  In places in the valleys it was almost jungle like; in mud, hacking our way through almost tropical vegetation.  I saw literally tons of elephant and hippo poo, even porcupine poo, and saw millions of animal foot, paw, hoof prints from zebra, lion, hyena, sable, hippo and elephant, with some of the bigger prints you could loose half a leg into… but all I saw in terms of wildlife was one squirrel!  I was told this evening that the wildlife here is really wild and at the sound of a human disappear.

In contrast to the Australian bush which is absolutely alive with birds and insects but not so Africa. The bush is almost silent, few birds and few insects but stunning the same.  I showed Nyegela my iphone videos of Chambers Gulley kangaroos and koalas he was almost in hysterics laughing at them.

The other evening I spied a well worn track and behind a tree I found 2 empty diesel containers.  Diesel is a cash commodity and one of my jobs is to try to keep this sort of petty pilfering under control,  apparently we lost nearly $120K’s worth of fuel last year. I was also passed by a vehicle heading into town improper use of company vehicles is the other key abuse that I’m meant to keep my eye on.

Camp food and Tanzanian food generally is very bland and quite boring, this has been a huge disappointment for me as I thought this far-off exotic place might have had some exciting influences, though I guess with a German and English history that was probably being optimistic.  There is little variation between rice, roast meat, red sauce, potatoes and vegies, for lunch and dinner.  At lunch you usually get last nights left over meat served up on pizza or something.  No curries, but a little bit of fish. I have just passed my 1.5 weeks mark and food is on my mind quite a lot – a fresh salad is at the top of the list.

Looks like I’m moving on from Uranex. Unfortunately the company is tightly managing its cash and it is cutting back all over the place.  I was suspicious that heads would roll despite assurances that I was safe but am now advised that my services will be no longer required beyond October. I anticipated this so it looks like I have picked up another job with an Australian company looking at coal in Kyrgyzstan so I will head there after the European vacation.

  

For the geographically challenged Kyrgyzstan (see http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/kyrgyzstan-map/)

 is a land locked country which was one of the USSR states and shares a border with China to the east, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the south and west and Kazakhstan to the north. Apparently very mountainous, politically stable but my worst fear is the cold, -25 degrees C in winter with the weather rolling in from Mongolia. So this adventure will mean more blogging if you can bare it.

LION PRINTS IN THE SAND

Karibu, welcome (Swahili).

This has been one of most difficult blogs to write.  Over the past 3 nights I have fiddled with it – still not happy.  I think it is because different to others this is about the people. Not easy to capture personalities, discussions and events.  An example of this is tonight’s camp fire discussion listening to a Zimbabwian, now camp manager (ex game hunter now  game photo shooter) talking to a south African driller (ex game hunter), debate the merits of organised hunting in preventing the wholesale slaughter of wild life by poachers largely supplying a Chinese market with things like rhino horn or ivory or lion bones (now a substitute for tiger bones as an aphrodisiac).  The one thing in common between the two is their incredible passion for the country and the despair that their wild life is under such incredible pressure.

Back to the blog proper…

The trip to camp from Dar is a 2 hrs in a light plane to the SW to a place called Songea and then 2.5hrs east by 4WD.  Nearly all the flight is over the Selous game park, a huge area, probably 250km long by 100km wide. I’m usually a pretty good light plane flyer and believe me I have flown on some really crap planes across the NT and this one by comparison looked quite good, but I had nervous South African next to me who for the whole 2.5 hours complained that the plane never seemed to level out, so at one stage he had me convinced that it was going to drop backwards out of the sky - a bit of a freaky trip…

I’m obsessed with seeing wildlife. Driving out to the main drilling site today there were some mighty big pussy cat paw prints, most likely with very big teeth and a taste for meat! And near to them are great piles of dung and flattened grass which of course are elephant.    But in terms of wild life so far I've seen a couple of wart hogs and a herd of sables and a monkey or two plus so many little pussy cat prints.  My determination is to see elephant and simba so I am going to organise a game scout and do own personal safari before I leave apparently there is a hippo hole nearby and a big waterhole elsewhere but only accessible by foot… hmmmm…. (clearly the place is full of wildlife so tell me what do I do with a young geologist who is going camp crazy and wants to go running around sunset and won’t be told?).

You run into quite a few white Africans in Tanzania, they are generally a really passionate lot who love Africa, I mean seriously love the place. Some of the more interesting ones I’ve met are people like Jason, a South African despite this a delightful fellow, a great sense of humour and an ex game hunter, still loves to shoot but has incredible sympathy for the bush. Then Jonathan a Zimbabwian, his family driven out of the country by Mugabe in his land grab and with his parents now running a beach riding resort on the Coast of Mozambique, apparently their farm was stripped of anything of value and the land is now vacant and overgrown.  Or Darren who runs the drilling company also an ex game hunter, a really nice genuine individual, Sth African, treats his guys really, really well, knows southern and east Africa so well.

Today’s photos are mainly of a recent visit by the District Commisssioner, a central government appointed official – uneventful but interesting.

ZANZIBAR

The Fox is back or I have been told that the silver fox is actually some sort of jackal…

What a day of contrasts it was, from  being chased by 15 aggressive touts trying to sell me a ticket to being bailed up in a 2m x 2m shed with an insistent immigration police questioning my visa, to the absolute stunning wonder of Zanzibar. My head is spinning, must be in Africa again…

I have returned for a nearly 4 week stint down in SW Tanzania but before I head off there I grabbed a couple of days to have a look at Dar Es Salaam but more importantly Zanzibar.  Zanzibar is about 70km off the coast of Tanzania, a popular tourist beach destination and accessible by a fast ferry in about 2 hours.  The ferry ride itself was uneventful but at either end of it there were serious introductions to the challenges of travelling in Africa. 

I got myself bright and early to the ferry terminal to have my taxi descended upon by about 15 desperate individuals all trying to give advice, sell me tickets, carry my bags etc.  I just sat there looking out the window going holy shit what’s the next move?  I looked at the taxi driver who was disinterested other than locking the doors and offered no advice. Deep breath and I got out and eventually one rather insistent fellow fended off the others and guided me to an office where I could purchase my own ticket.  The only challenge now was that there was a throng of about 30 at the ticket window, but like Moses and the Red Sea, my guy parted the crowd and ushered me into a tiny office where tickets could be bought. Then it was “no I could not get a local price” and” yes I had to buy a premium ticket” despite the fact that there was only an economy return ticket. Anyway the insistent guy who helped me got 5000sh for his help and I boarded.

An uneventful trip other than seeing these tiny boats crammed with 15 or 2 people doing the same crossing or the odd equally tiny dhow. On arrival in Zanzibar all non-Africans had to go through immigration… what Zanzibar is the “za” in Tanzania?  but Sir you have the wrong visa!  I bloody well knew I had the right visa but there was no way I was going to convince the very insistent group of officials otherwise and by the way Sir your new visa will cost US$200. I had been warned of this scam and for this very reason the company had given me US100 cash just in case. But I wasn’t going to hand it over without a bit of a fight, but the more I tried to talk my way out of it, the more insistent they became.  So eventually I offered $80 and said that’s all I had. After all that they asked me if that left me  with money to spend on the island,  I said no, so the kind hearted soles made it $60…

You can judge Zanzibar by the pictures, it is stunning with that azure blue sea,  a mixture of colonial, Indian and Arabic architecture,  narrow alley ways, hyperactive market and of course constant reminder of its history in the slave and spice trade.  As the travel writers would say a “real fusion of colour and culture” and that’s how it is.  Poverty on one side of the street and a chic almost Moroccan looking boutique B&B’s and the food.  I didn’t get to look at the beach resorts but I can only imagine they will add to the attraction of the place. A definite place to return to.

The burqa is common place in Zanzibar with a very strong Muslim population,  I said to my guide that I just didn’t get the burqa,  no matter how I looked at it I cannot make sense of it, his explanation was that a number of women used it as a disguise as they were prostitutes not wanting to be identified. All I can say is that there must be a roaring trade!

Next stop is the bush.

Final steps & khaki

Well I survived the night in the fly camp.  It was so well managed with everything on a smaller scale compared to the main camp; food was still served and the beds (now mattresses on the ground) were turned down. A stunning location overlooking endless forest, there was a long drop and shower on the top of the hill with a modesty screen back to the camp but a view to die for over the Selous. The Tanzanians are absolutely terrified of being out in the bush and wanted the generator to run all night but it was reluctantly switched off at 9.30. When I went to bed the flaps were all up on the tent and for about 30 sec I thought “what would I do if I saw a big cat prowling through the camp?” but I was asleep before I got to the answer.

I am now back in Dar, really haven’t seen Dar, not sure that I’m interested as it’s a very big and very dirty city. The climate is a bit like Darwin, sticky at the best of time.  It is however the gateway to Zanzibar, hopefully next time.  I fly out tomorrow, with the trip time being something like 24hrs, via Dubai, getting into Melbourne about 1am on Sunday morning. As a treat I have taken myself down to the Seacliff Hotel (and casino I hate casinos would not have come if I had known). I have had a couple of G&T’s in a beautiful balmy evening.   This is where the expats (whities) hang out with a smattering of rich Tanzanians.  It occupies probably the best bit of real estate in Dar. There is a whole range of accents/languages around me but in reality it could be any upmarket beach side pub in Australia.

The whole trip I have been busting to see some wildlife and everybody keeps telling me their stories and showing photos.  Let’s be precise,  I have seen a mother and baby elephant up quite close, in the far distance, and I mean far, I have seen 1 giraffe and 2 zebras, there have been hoards of baboons, 1 squirrel and 2 unidentifiable antelope things disappearing into the bush. That is it and it is pathetic compared to everyone else’s stories including a cheetah wandering through the driller’s camp. I am very disappointed and have sunk to taking photos of people’s pictures on their mobile. When I return in July I will be the person in charge so I will be co-opting the game scout to help me see more.

Local food is not quite bland and not particularly exciting.  A lot of meat, bbq, rice, and a red slightly spicy sauce and that seems to be it.  I’m sure Dar has some delights, being the port city, there will be a real fusion of food from around the Indian Ocean but that will have to wait for next time. One of their traditional foods is ungali, this is almost like a hot bread dough but made out of corn, an acquired taste I think but take it away from the average Tanzanian and they are very unhappy. I have not had the slightest sign of a belly bug though beeing warned that everyone end’s up with the “trots”.

So that’s about it, my last post for this trip. Looking back I can reconcile mining exploration going on in such a stunning area but one of things I feel most uncomfortable about is the relationship between the white man and the black man.  A wild generalisation here but the white man is all too willing to denigrate and distrust the black man despite their openness and friendliness but the black man is all too willing to subjugate himself either because of inferiority or desire to be seen in a good light.  This does not sit well with me and I know it is all about wealth, power and tradition but I like relationships to be equal and trusting….

So thanks for reading I hope it was interesting and not too indulgent and you never know I might pick up the pen again on my next trip. Oh yes one last thing Khaki, let me tell you about khaki.  I hate it and can assure you that I am not about to start wearing it, it seems to be the uniform - that outdoor type clothing with zips, pockets and flaps.  There is no way in the world that I will be caught dead in it!

Life in the field camp

Please, oh please, just give me back my underpant!

I am now at the Uranex camp at Lukuju this is in the middle of a State forest at the “headwaters” to the Selous National Park, one of the biggest game parks in the world.  A very organised camp with its own laundry service but please oh please can I have my underpants back, apparently washing underpants for Tanzanians is a sensitive matter they even have had to buy a specific washing machine for them (generally not mine!).

The forest we are in is apparently crawling with wildlife as it migrates down to the Selous, the problem is you never see any because the camp is noisy, terrain quite hilly, it is densely treed and the grass is up to 1.5m high. Here the old saying applies “you can’t see the forest because of the trees” so it is difficult to get any sort of view because it is so densely vegetated. But the views when you get them are quite spectacular, they are of endless pristine and I mean pristine forest, congratulations to the Tanzanians for retaining it like this.

Yesterday I did a tour of the site with some very, very serious, geeky consulting geologists, one Scottish and the other French.  Wherever we went we had to be accompanied by a game scout with a shot gun with a bullet in the chamber in-case of attacks by animals. Comment was made that the gun was probably built in the 1880’s certainly looked old.  The game scout is a very serious looking dude in all jungle greens, apparently a brilliant tracker and has total second sense about the presence of animals – let’s hope that’s correct.

The Uranex camp is a major operation, we sleep in tents on concrete plinths equipped with a double bed and chair. Tents are cleaned every day and the bed is turned down for you in the evening, very comfortable and contrary to advice no problems with hyenas. The camp operation is contracted to a company that runs safari camps for tourist, we have our own kitchen, office, laundry etc.. etc. Food is excellent (though will bring some muesli next time). One could get fat here as there are 3 cooked meals per day. Apparently I’m to come back in July for a couple of weeks to manage the whole shebang.

Some interesting characters in the camp, most of them being whites of “another kind”. There is the nuggetty camp manager and professional hunter Jason, the dour monosyllabic driller from Botswana and the drilling supervisor Darren also South African who actually seems quite normal, plus our Exploration Manager (American).  We were real men last night, sitting round the camp fire drinking beer and talking men’s talk.  Most of the conversation revolved around hunting and which game was best to eat, what sort of bullets are required to stop what animals or how to kill a donkey “mercifully” with a hammer. Comments were made that there were not many 70lb elephants around anymore,  I’m thinking that’s tiny but what they were talking about was the weight of the tusks. Not a conversation I’d say was politically correct…all quite bizarre but this is their life.  There was also a very different relationship between these guys and the Tanzanians I’ll let you fill in the gaps here…

A funny incident last night I was first to retire and I had just drifted off when I heard my tent zip opening, with the imagination an self preservation instinct kicking in big time, I sat up and let out the biggest blood curdling scream. Poor driller Darren had been given directions to the wrong tent, just hope he didn’t run off looking for the elephant gun!

Tonight I head out to spend the night with the geeky geologists at the fly camp.  This is a camp built for a crew that is doing some mapping in an even more remote area. Apparently a great location on top of a hill but all sorts of jokes about being eaten by animals but we do have our own game scout…. Wish me luck!!! 

Man in Crows Jersey seen slaughtering a goat??

Yesterday started with a trip to the Manyoni market, big things hadbeen promised but it was a bit of a sad affair except for the cattle market.Lots of photo opportunities, but reluctant people who quite definitely did not wanttheir picture taken.  So I needed todevelop some new strategies, zooming in from a distance was one tack but itneeded a very steady hand; ah! but there was a dead set solution for women,“can I take a picture of your baby?”, “oh yes of course” and then the wholefamily gets drawn in. But getting the pictures of the incredibly striking Masiherdsmen is difficult.

The cattle market was amazing, all done in a 2m walledenclosure about 75m square where cattle and people were packed in and the dealsdone. There was maybe 70 cattle and 200 people in that enclosure, a mixture ofthe obviously very wealthy i.e. over weight and the lean herdsmen. It seemedtotally chaotic, did not seem to be a bidding process, but money changed hands.

Oh yes the goat incident, next to the cattle market therewas a 20m square pad where goats were being slaughtered, no stun guns here, alldone with the knife and every part of the goat was utilised which meant a veryslow death as capturing the blood was the first thing and what better way ofdoing it than letting the poor old goat deliver it into a bucket as their heartpumped its last. There seemed to be at least a dozen or so “in process” at atime, I think they were primarily meant for the lunchtime BBQ. In the midst ofall this was a fellow in this red, blue and yellow jersey dressing the hangingmeat (i.e removing the entrails etc), from a distance it looked like an Adelaidecrows jersey and it was exactly that.

Roads in Tz seem pretty good, traffic is a bit chaotic butnot bad, I would feel OK driving here but hey for $12/day you can get someoneto do it for you and they are pretty good. Life seems to revolve around the roadit is the place of trade and of course transport, you can not go a km withoutsomething being offered for sale, corn, veg, charcoal, petrol, furniture,clothing, sex whatever. It is a constant hive of activity. There are not a lotof cars but heaps of trucks, buses and bicycles and believe me there is nothingthat cannot be carried on a bicycle. Apparently they are made in China and soldby the millions.  Pedestrians and cyclistare not considered as road users and end up in the gutter if you happen to beovertaking.  As we saw today a truck onits side in the ditch is not uncommon, probably saw about 10 today, even moreinteresting are the burnt out buses, I think the count today was 3 but theydisappear very quickly as they are dismantled for scrap.

A feature of the roads is the traffic police. Tanzanian’sare typically very lean people, but there must be a genetic flaw in the trafficpolice, invariably they are oozing out of their white uniforms.  Some suggest it is a product of the bribesthey demand and what it is spent on – most likely. We have been stopped onceand I was chastised by the “fat inspector” for not speaking Swahili.

Yesterday’s goal was to travel from Manyoni and to try andstay in the Mukumi Game Reserve – grand plans and great expectations.  Tanzania in parts is breath takinglybeautiful and it was a spectacular drive but we arrived at the Park too latealmost right on sunset but we got brief sightings of elephants, zebra andgiraffe, apparently I missed a small leopard darting across the road. Butunfortunately they were all too brief and some rather distant.

Luxury accommodation last night staying in a tourist resort,some white faces and English speaking people. I think all educated Tanzaniansspeak English but still very difficult to understand and 50% of conversationsneed to be repeated or you just nod without a clue of what’s been said. 

What's wrong with my underpants?

The other day I put my washing in, yes it would be ready in the evening. Evening comes all done for 0.75cents. But no underpants! Went to reception to be told they don't wash underpants, that is only done by the man's wife. They eventually retrieved them from a plastic bag out the back.

Been a couple of amazing days acclimatising to Tanzania, at last jet lag has gone and I don’t feel like crashing at 4pm (6.5hrs behind Oz).  I am so far off the beaten track,  I have not seen a white face since I left Dar 3 days ago. It does now feel like the silver is ON SAFARI! It is everything I hoped for.

 It’s Friday night in Manyoni and it’s obviously party night every one is out in their finery and there is at least six versions of reggae wafting through the hotel window; charming now but don’t think it will be at 1am. 

Manyoni is just off the main highway it’s a small town of, I’m guessing, maybe 1500 people, all mud brick or besser block buildings covered in grime. There is not a skerrick of bitumen in the place, so all dirt roads generating endless dust and I’m sure none of them have ever seen a grader in their life. No stormwater and forget sewage but they have a water supply of very dubious origins as the supply breaks down and they use wells whic h you guessed it are located next to sewage outfall.

 I am working with 2 charming, ever smiling and helpful geologists called Ryoba and Pascal.  Tanzanian people are very polite though a little reserved, they don’t swear (maybe in Swahili), drinking is not a big habit and surprisingly neither is tobacco.  And that demeanour seems to be the template for the community, at no stage have I felt unsafe despite being the only white face for probably 200km. 

Religion is a big thing here, I think the stats are something like 60% Christian, 40% Muslim living harmoniously , every bus has something about God or Jesus on it and even Manyoni has a couple grand churches no mud bricks or besser blocks for them.  Even Pascal says a little prayer and crosses him self each meal time (as I bog in!!).

Speaking of churches this evening I could here some singing and I tracked it down to a nearby church yard where some 30 women in traditional clothing were practising some sort of song and dance routine – quite beautiful. I crept up camera in hand but was immediately taken by the hand and invited into their midst where I was interrogated about where I was from, was I looking for a wife, how many children did I have (didn’t think I should mention divorced) etc – they were so kind and so hospitable. I then offered to make a donation to the church 10,000 Shillings ($7) well that brought on a formal presentation, applause and handing over of money – wait for the photos a very special moment.

The days have been filled with driving around visiting various mbugas (large low lying areas surfaced with black soil).  I’ve been driven through thorn thickets, long grass and sunflower fields. There is no scale to farming here, I have not seen a single tractor with all work done by hand presumably by individual families.   Today we were out in the middle of this mbuga and some cattle herders wandered past, very traditionally dressed woman with highly polished brass arm covers, and plate round her neck and things through her ear, her face was decorated by what must have been small knife marks with ink in them, she had 5 or so children with her all dressed in the same traditional deep purple robes - it was straight out of the travel documentary.  Later we came across some crazy Masi young men herding cattle, absolutely wildly dressed and carrying spears.

Tomorrow is market day and I have been told it is a site to behold - I have heaps of photos but alas miserable Internet connection.